Taiwan foreign minister resigns over diplomatic blunder
By Jonathan Adams Published: May 6, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/06/asia/taiwan.php
TAIPEI: The foreign minister of Taiwan and two other top officials
resigned Tuesday over a botched attempt to win diplomatic recognition
from Papua New Guinea, a scandal that has stirred public outrage
against the outgoing government just two weeks before it is to step
down.
Taipei was embarrassed by the public disclosure that about $30
million, which had been intended for Papua New Guinea in exchange for
its switching diplomatic allegiance from Beijing, had disappeared.
Foreign Minister James Huang tendered his resignation over the case
Tuesday. Vice Premier Chiou I-jen also resigned from the cabinet, a
day after he left the Democratic Progressive Party and said that he
would retire from politics. Vice Defense Minister Ko Cheng-heng
resigned later Tuesday, The Associated Press re****ted.
In 2006, the government wired the $30 million to an account in
Singa****e that was controlled by two middlemen who had been enlisted
by Taipei for the secret diplomatic gambit. After negotiations with
Papua New Guinea foundered, Taiwan requested the money back, but to no
avail.
Now, one of the middlemen - Ching Chi-ju - is on the run. The
government says it does not know what became of Ching or the money.
The diplomatic scandal is the latest in a series of blows to the
government of President Chen Shui-bian, which has been deeply
unpopular for its perceived mismanagement of the economy and a string
of corruption cases. Chen's Democratic Progressive Party was badly
beaten in elections in January and March.
"People feel humiliated by the government's incompetence," said George
Tsai, a political analyst at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.
"It's a joke to the outside world - how could the government be
cheated like this? It's proof to many that they're a bunch of Boy
Scouts and amateurs."
Chiou, the vice premier, had been one of the key players in the
overture to Papua New Guinea. He insisted Tuesday that he had not
pocketed any money in the affair, amid re****ts in The United Evening
News and other news media outlets that some of the $30 million may
have been earmarked as kickbacks for Taiwan officials.
Chiou is widely viewed as one of the key architects of the rise to
power in 2000 of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
His fall from grace is therefore a sharp blow for a party whose morale
had already been low.
Taiwan and China have long engaged in so-called checkbook diplomacy to
lure diplomatic allies to their sides. Taiwan and China both refuse to
establish official ties with countries that maintain ties with the
other. All the major powers recognize Beijing, but the two sides have
long competed for the allegiances of smaller countries, using promises
of aid.
In recent years, the growing clout of China has given it an edge in
this contest. Now, only 23 countries - mostly small, marginal ones -
recognize Taiwan, compared with 30 when the pro-independence party
took power in 2000.
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